Hey everyone, I never used any added sulfites in my wine that I've made from fresh juice. However I decided to try to age some longer and see what happens. I used the powder form and dont believe I mixed it up well enough after talking to some guys at the shop. I put it in a carboy, racked the wine over, hand stirred it and then racked it into gallon jugs three days ago. I'm thinking after talking to people I didnt stir it enough. I'm figuring some of my gallons have more sulfites then others. I was wondering if I should just let it go or after three days could i rack all the gallons back into a carboy and re-rack into the gallons for aging and mix it up more that way or if it's probably too late and I should just see what happens, Thanks in advance, Ken
Metabasulfite question
- Thread starter KENfromMI
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk:
I don't think squeezing, etc, will tell you if the sulfites are mixed well.
I'm not sure how to solve your issue. Usually, I dissolve the sulfite powder in a little wine in a cup, stir well, pour it into the carboy and then rack into that.
What is your concern? That some of the wine has too little sulfite, while some of it may have to much? That would be ok, if you're planning to rack again in the near future. I rack about every 30-45 days while lees are dropping, so if you still have some lees forming, you can mix better at your next racking and the wine should be fine. I usually add sulfites at every other racking.
I don't know what else to tell you- without an so2 meter, I don't know how you'd tell how much sulfite you had in each container.
If you're really worried, I guess you can rerack now, but I probably wouldn't quite yet.
I'm not sure how to solve your issue. Usually, I dissolve the sulfite powder in a little wine in a cup, stir well, pour it into the carboy and then rack into that.
What is your concern? That some of the wine has too little sulfite, while some of it may have to much? That would be ok, if you're planning to rack again in the near future. I rack about every 30-45 days while lees are dropping, so if you still have some lees forming, you can mix better at your next racking and the wine should be fine. I usually add sulfites at every other racking.
I don't know what else to tell you- without an so2 meter, I don't know how you'd tell how much sulfite you had in each container.
If you're really worried, I guess you can rerack now, but I probably wouldn't quite yet.
Thanks for the quick replies. Actually I wasnt going to rack until i opened a gallon and racked into 5 bottles to drink. The wine has been bulk aging in carboys and was already clear naturally. I was going to let the gallons sit until i was ready for them. It was my juice from 2007. I had some wires crossed with the guys at the shop and misunderstood what i was supposed to do. They said to rack all the wine back into a carboy gently, brake out the stir stick connected to the drill, degass better and rack into the bottles and I should be fine.
